Sarmixan's Curse
by BlazeMarluxia
Summary: When Xemnas apparently goes missing, all responsibilities are loaded upon Marluxia's shoulders. He struggles under the pressure, only to find that things were to get a whole lot worse...
1. Chapter 1

A man with a black coat moodily tapped a cold, metal desk. He shook back his thick, mauve-coloured hair and his dark-blue eyes narrowed when someone else came through the door. The newcomer didn't look any older than twenty, and was wearing the same attire that the other was wearing. He ran a hand through his red hair and looked nervously at the person behind the desk.

"Where have you been?"

The redhead seemed to be expecting this cold question, and hesitated before answering.

"Well you see, Marluxia, Xemnas told me to –"

Marluxia stood up suddenly, upsetting a neat pile of papers of the desk. He knew this excuse very well.

"Xemnas told you to do what, Axel?"

Axel glanced at the papers and tried a cautious grin at Marluxia.

"You will have to tidy those up again, you know that?"

The next thing Marluxia said was said with such iciness that it could have frozen magma.

"I'm not in the mood for this, Axel," he said. "Give me a straight answer, and I won't find Saïx to get a second opinion."

At this mention of 'Saïx', Axel's bright green eyes narrowed.

"You wouldn't."

"Oh, I would," Marluxia carried on. "In fact, I might even tell Xemnas."

He chuckled without any humour, but Axel couldn't see the joke.

"Why is that so funny?"

"Well, can you see him?" Marluxia asked, indicated to the room around him. "Unless he's hiding behind a bookcase or something, he's not here."

"And?"

"You moron!" Marluxia yelled, leaning forward with both hands on the desk. "Don't you get it? _Xemnas is missing_!"

"I'm not a moron," Axel said, hurt. But then he realised what the man in front of him had said.

"Missing?!"

"Yes."

Axel seemed uncertain about this, and ran a hand through his hair again.

"What are we going to do about that, then?" he asked, but Marluxia sighed and shook his head.

"We are not going to do anything," he said. "See? If he's gone, then we can rule the Organization!"

"How many others know of this?" Axel asked, excited.

"The whole castle."

"Then how come I didn't know?"

"When I announced this, you weren't there," Marluxia said. "I've been waiting for a while."

Axel looked guilty, shifting from one foot to the other.

"I didn't actually come to hear this," he said, and Marluxia narrowed his eyes.

"Oh?"

"I came because…"

Axel hesitated, and his eyes wandered, looking for a way to explain.

"You came because?"

"I came because Zexion's sick," Axel said, finally saying what was in his mind. "He's not in good shape."

Marluxia wearily rubbed his neck, and looked back at Axel.

"How sick?" he asked. "When did this happen?"

"Well, he can barely walk, and he always looks quite blank," Axel replied. "As for how long; he's been losing test battles for about a week now."

Marluxia raised an eyebrow, not looking pleased.

"Are you sure he's not just putting it on?"

"Very sure," Axel said. "Come see for yourself if you want."

Marluxia walked out from behind Xemnas' desk, not taking any care to walk around the papers on the floor. Axel walked out the door, Marluxia following, and went down a number of floors via the stairs. After they had been walking for about ten minutes, Axel turned into another door, going into a dark room.

"Is that you, Axel?"

Zexion's voice came faintly from somewhere in the room, and Marluxia turned on a light. The teenager was sitting on a chair, his head in his hand, looking genuinely unwell.

"It's me and Marluxia," Axel said, walking over to Zexion. "Xemnas still hasn't turned up, so there's no chance of you being eliminated.

Marluxia knew that it was Xemnas' rule that all sick Nobodies were to be destroyed, as more healthy ones would always come.

"Xemnas won't turn up," Zexion muttered. "His scent has gone."

Marluxia groaned quietly. He would not like telling that to the rest of the Organization, as they still had respect for the Superior.

"Are you sure?"

"He might just have left the castle, but it sort of… faded."

"So he's dead?" Axel finalised, and Zexion nodded.

"I'll have to go," Marluxia said, and turned around to face the door. "I don't want anyone else finding the broken Existence Stone before I've disposed of it first."

Zexion nodded again, and sighed.

"I'm sorry that I can't do any more, but something's taken me," he said. "I don't think it's a normal virus or anything, as we can't catch them. This is the work of long research and genetic modification."

"Vexen," Marluxia spat, and ran out the door.

Axel decided to stay, though keeping his distance from the sick Nobody. All was quiet until something crashed in one of the many cupboards in the room. Silently sneaking up to the door of the one that had made the noise, he yanked it open and took a few steps back.

Out of it came a Dusk, one of the lowest rankings of Nobody. It swayed, but not as a usual Dusk would. It was drooping, and its moving was more trying to keep its balance than real Dusking. It raised its head, and Axel leaped back in horror. It was oozing black gas through its face, and after a few seconds it was just a skin on the floor, nothing more.

At that moment, Marluxia appeared in the middle of the room with Vexen. The scientist was being gripped on the arm by the other man, and was not looking at all pleased.

"What is it?" Vexen demanded, as Marluxia had obviously not told him anything. "Tell me!"

"Look."

Vexen knew all about Zexion's illness, but had no idea what it had to do with him.

"So?"

"You created this, didn't you?" Marluxia asked, and Vexen shook his head vehemently.

"No! I've never even _tried_ to invent something that would do this!"

"Uh… guys…"

Everyone turned to Axel, who was pointing with a shaking finger at the Dusk skin. Zexion's eyes opened wide, as did Marluxia's, but Vexen just nodded.

"Yes, that's something I know of," he said. "But that only affects Dusks, so there's nothing to worry about."

"Oh, really?"

Axel now indicated to Zexion, who was clutching his head.

"This headache…" he muttered.

"Unless…"

Vexen trailed off, something which he rarely did.

"This disease is slow-working, but lethal," he continued. "It takes over a week in Dusks to eventually kill them, so it should be slower in humanoid Nobodies."

"You mean Zexion's caught this thing!?" Marluxia cried.

Vexen nodded slowly.

"This virus is very unstable, so it mutates rapidly. But to start it off would take someone with skill," he said. "Lots of skill."

"But can't you reverse this?" Axel asked, still gazing in horror at the Dusk skin.

"…"

Vexen wouldn't say anything, instead just walked over to Zexion and kneeled down beside the youth.

"Can you breathe properly?"

Zexion shook his head slightly.

"Not really."

He coughed a few times, and sighed.

"Can you find a cure to this, Vexen?" Zexion asked, sounding hopeful. "I don't want to give this to anyone else."

The scientist had suffering written in his face when he answered the question from the sick Nobody.

"I'm not sure."

"Come on, Vexen!" Axel cried out. "You've had over ten years experience with this type of thing, so you _have_ to find a cure!"

"No, it's okay."

Everyone turned to Zexion, who had stood up.

"Just leave me, so you won't catch it," he said, swaying slightly. "I'll just stay here."

This wasn't an act of sympathy; it was an act of truth, and Marluxia knew this. The new leader laid a hand on Zexion's shoulder, and whispered into his ear.

"We will find an antidote, and when we do, we'll come back. I promise."

Zexion nodded slowly, and sat back down again. Marluxia motioned for the rest of the people to exit the room, which they grudgingly did.

They walked in silence for a long time, no one wanting to say anything that would start an argument. Zexion was going to die, and that was the bottom line.


	2. Chapter 2

"These are the only documents I have on the virus," Vexen said, holding out a small pile of papers when they had reached his study. "I've never had much to do with it, so I never collected information about it."

Marluxia took the papers and scanned through them quickly. But he stopped on one paragraph and read it again. He frowned.

"It says here that it is highly contagious," he said. "Doesn't that mean that we'll catch it as well?"

"It is indeed contagious, so we'd best keep away from Zexion until we've found a cure," Vexen said. "He probably caught it from a sick Dusk, so you'll need to order some of the Organization to eliminate as many Dusks as possible."

Marluxia blinked, then remembered that he was the leader around here now.

"I'll get Saïx and Xaldin," he said. "They're the most resistant to illness, and they're efficient."

"Do you want me to get them?"

Marluxia nodded to Vexen, who then left through a Dark Portal. Axel was reading over Marluxia's shoulder, something which annoyed the leader greatly.

"Move away from me, Axel," he said coldly. "You know I hate it when you do that."

Axel knew what Marluxia was talking about, and sheepishly walked away. He retired to Vexen's chair behind his desk, but his eyes opened wide when he sat down. He slowly stood up again and looked at the seat of the chair, grimacing when he saw a number of tiny test tubes broken and dripping off the steel surface.

Brushing the back of his coat down guiltily, he glanced at Marluxia to see if he had noticed. He was still reading the papers, and Axel sighed in relief.

"I doubt that Vexen will be too pleased about you destroying his research," Marluxia said, not even looking up. "You'll have to explain that to him."

So he _had_ been watching. The redhead nodded, but made a face when he had his back turned to the leader. Explain to the scientist that all of his dubious but time-consuming work had been broken by being sat on?

But Axel had no more time to think, as Vexen walked through a Dark Portal into the room at that moment. Following after him were two other members of the Organization, both of whom Axel knew and dreaded.

Xaldin was a muscular man, no grace to his body. But that didn't matter; he didn't need to look handsome to be a killer. His long black dreadlocks covered his face, and oddly purple eyes surveyed the study. But it was the person behind him that had Axel worried.

The other man was around the same height as Xaldin, but a lot slimmer. He didn't look that menacing, but Axel knew that there was masses more to this man than met the eye. He was an assassin, and one of the best at that. His large X shaped scar covered the middle of Saïx's face, a sign of some fierce battle in the past, and his blue hair framed his pale face. He was not pleased to be working with another Nobody; he worked alone, and alone was the only way.

Marluxia didn't waste any courtesy on these two, but instead got right down to business.

"Did Vexen tell you anything?" he asked, glaring at the scientist when they shook their heads.

"But you would expect as much from such a pathetic Nobody?"

Saïx's voice was smooth, cutting through the air like a knife. Vexen glared at the blue haired man, and didn't even try to bite his tongue.

"Oh? And what made _you_ have so much authority?" Vexen spat. "You… you're only number 7! You cannot speak to me, Number 4, in that way!"

"Close your mouth."

The reply was sent back with so much commanding that Vexen did indeed shut his mouth.

"So?" Xaldin asked. "What do you want us to do?"

"Eliminate all the Dusks you can find," Marluxia said. "No matter what you do, _don't let them escape_."

"And what is this for?" Saïx enquired, raising an eyebrow. "The Dusks have saved us a lot of time in the past, so I don't see the point of ridding ourselves of them now."

"They are carrying a lethal disease which has already struck Zexion," Marluxia replied.

"So you want us to risk our lives for this?" Xaldin asked, sounding angry. "And I don't see you making any move to stop them!"

"Be quiet, Xaldin," Saïx said. "We have no lives. We are but Nobodies, so we really have nothing to lose."

The strong man muttered a bit, but was silenced by a look from Marluxia.

"We shall go now," Saïx said, clicking his fingers and opening a Dark Portal. "Don't be expecting us back any time soon."

With that, the two walked into the Portal and out of sight.

Marluxia coughed, and turned to Axel.

"So, when are you going to explain to Vexen about what you did?"

Axel cringed and averted his eyes from the scientist's, waiting for the blow that would come. There was dead silence for a moment, then a weary sigh from Vexen as he saw the mess that had been caused by Axel.

"What have you done…?" he said quietly. "That was my working on the cure for the Dusk illness I started a while back. We needed the Dusks, so I started on an antidote to stop the numbers from thinning out."

Marluxia's eyes opened wide, and Axel wished he would sink into the ground. This was going from bad to worse.

"Don't worry though," Vexen continued. "It should only take a few more weeks to find another one. Just be careful in the time being, though. This virus could be caught by as little as touching the victim."

"Just as well none of us…"

Marluxia trailed off, remembering from before. He had told Zexion that he would be back, with the cure, and had grasped his shoulder…

"Oh no…" Marluxia said, horrified.

"Hm?"

"I've just remembered… I touched Zexion's shoulder just before we left!" Marluxia cried.

"Are you sure?" asked the scientist hopefully.

"Positive."

"Damn," Vexen cursed, running a hand through his blond hair.

"But I'll do my best," Marluxia continued. "Unless I'm immobile, I'm going to do all I can to prevent any others getting this."

"But there is still a chance that you might not get it…"

"You have to treat this like I do," Marluxia said, cutting through Vexen's words. "Because if I am a host of the virus and we just hope for the best, then I might infect the whole Organization."

"And of all the people, it had to be our leader…" Vexen muttered, folding his arms.

"Come on, cheer up!" Axel said, putting an arm around Vexen's shoulders which was immediately shoved off.

"Marluxia would only have around a week or so to live," Vexen said. "This is no laughing matter."

Axel started to sulk and sat down on a spare chair, checking first that there was nothing already occupying it. Marluxia coughed again, and put the papers that he had been holding back on Vexen's desk.

"A week?" he asked incredulously. "But that would leave Zexion only a few days!"

"I know," Vexen said. "There is no hope for Zexion."

Axel stood up abruptly at this.

"_What_?" he cried. "So you're just going to leave Zexion to die?"

"Now, that makes it sound cruel," Vexen said. "He probably wants to escape this no-life as soon as possible, so he'll welcome death."

"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure about that," Axel said, not giving up.

"This is a sinking ship, and we save only ourselves," Vexen replied. "Zexion is already half-drowned and trapped, so there's no point in risking our own existence to save him."

"Marluxia?"

The leader turned his head to Axel, whose eyes were begging him to agree with the seeming minority. Marluxia took a deep breath, and said his opinion.

"I agree with Axel," he said. "Even if he is drowning, who knows how strong the chains are that hold him?"

Vexen turned a faint shade of pink, and looked away from the others. Axel grinned at Marluxia.

"Thanks for agreeing with me," he said, but Marluxia just shrugged.

"I'm not like Xemnas."

Axel certainly agreed with that, knowing that this leader would do everything he could to save the members of the Organization. Xemnas would deliberately end their lives if they were unwell.

"I'm glad of that."

"Alright, enough of this sloppy stuff," Vexen said grumpily, glaring at them.

"Shouldn't you be trying to find a cure already?" asked Marluxia, raising an eyebrow.

"You have no power over me!" Vexen replied curtly, then remembered about Marluxia's new authority over the Organization.

"Haven't we had this conversation before?"

Axel remembered it. Even though Vexen was ranked 4 and Marluxia 11, the latter had been entrusted with Namine and Castle Oblivion. This had seemed very unfair to Vexen, who was sick of being bossed around by the controlling Marluxia. At one stage Marluxia's scythe had come into the argument, threatening Vexen after he had defiantly complained about being ordered by a Nobody with such low ranking.

"Fine…"

Vexen retired to his chair, flipping through a few more documents before reading one deeply. After a few moments, he stood up again and walked to a room off the study.

"I'll be in here if you need me," he said, and closed the door.

"Can you round up Larxene and Xigbar?" Marluxia asked Axel, who nodded.

"Yep," he said. "I'll go get them now."

With that, Axel walked through a Dark Portal and disappeared.

Alone in the cold office, Marluxia walked to the window, which had a good view of Kingdom Hearts in it. The huge moon was shining brightly, lighting up the small room. As it was always black and raining in The World That Never Was, the moon was the only source of light.

"The only source of Saïx's power as well," Marluxia said quietly. Even though the scarred Nobody was usually calm and silent, he could instantly change to his Berserk mode. The name said it all.

"Heello, Marluxia!" Larxene said cheerfully, having just arrived. "Nice place this, isn't it?"

Marluxia knew she was being sarcastic, as the study was currently scattered with papers and a total mess.

"Be quiet Larxene," Xigbar said, obviously not in a good mood.

"Good, you're both here," Marluxia said. "But where's Axel?"

"Oh, he said he was going to help out Saïx and Xaldin," Larxene replied. "Didn't say much more than that, though. He seemed to be in quite a rush."

"Idiot…" Marluxia muttered. "He's going to get himself killed."

"Say, you haven't seen Zexion around recently, have you?" Larxene asked, looking around the office. "I don't think I've seen him for a few days."

"That's why I've got you two here."

Larxene exchanged glances with Xigbar, and looked back at the leader.

"So?"

"He's contracted a virus only seen in Dusks."

Vexen had come into the room again, and was starting to explain things to the newcomers.

"It is lethal, and it seems to have mutated so it attacks the higher ranking Nobodies as well," Vexen continued. "Zexion will die if we don't do anything about it."

"So you want us to help you?" Xigbar asked.

"No, you are not going to help Vexen," Marluxia said. "You will tell the rest of the Organization to find somewhere safe to stay until this illness has died out."

"Okay!" Larxene said, walking through a Dark Portal. "Xigbar, come on!"

Xigbar followed, and Axel came back the other way through the Portal.

"Where have you been?"

Axel cringed at Marluxia's voice, and thought up an excuse.

"I was just… uh… checking that Zexion was still alive!" Axel said, sounding certain. "And he was."

"No you weren't," Marluxia shot back. "You were with Saïx and Xaldin!"

"Uh… maybe…"

"You were."

"I was just…"

"Trying to help them out?"

"No, not really…"

"You could have gotten yourself killed!"

"No! I would never!"

Marluxia sighed in disgust, turning away from the redhead.

"You are very important in this Organization, Axel," he said. "All of us are. We cannot let anyone be obliterated."

Axel bowed his head.

"I'm sorry."

Axel sounded so meek that Marluxia chuckled, and he faced him again.

"Don't do anything without my say so from now on, okay?" Marluxia said. "Until the Dusks are eliminated, we are all in danger."

"That's just the thing," Axel said. "I'm not entirely sure what happened, but Xaldin's not doing so well."


	3. Chapter 3

"The virus?!"

"No, I don't think so…"

Axel put a hand to his cheek and thought, while Marluxia watched him attentively.

"He's not sick looking," Axel continued. "It's more… like he's being controlled by someone."

Marluxia opened a Dark Portal, and Axel looked surprised.

"Don't you want to hear more?"

"You can fill me in on the details when we get there."

Marluxia walked through the Portal, while Axel hurriedly followed. When they got out the other side, they were at the base of the incredibly Memory's Skyscraper. Dusks were everywhere, healthy ones and diseased ones alike. Saïx was in Berserk mode while massacring Dusks, but went out of it when he saw Marluxia.

"Well, this is a change," he said. "What are you doing here, Marluxia?"

"I've heard something about Xaldin," the leader said. "Is it the virus?"

"No, he's been taken over by someone," Saïx said, but broke off the sentence when a group of Dusks tried to sneak up behind him. He swung his claymore around in an arc, then turned back to Marluxia.

"I've tried to snap him out of it, but my strength… you know… it didn't do him any good."

Axel found Xaldin, and saw that he had been knocked unconscious by something. Most likely Saïx's claymore. But as he watched, Xaldin moved his head slightly and opened his eyes. They looked mad.

"My mutation is working," he said in a strange voice. "It will rid the worlds of all you nothings!"

"Marluxia, Saïx; come listen to this!" Axel yelled to the two Nobodies, and they ran over.

"You will all die!" Xaldin said, looking ecstatic. "And you will suffer, I promise!"

"Who are you?" Marluxia asked, but the man just sniggered.

"What does it matter," he said. "You will never know. I will make sure of that."

"Oh, I think I will."

Marluxia smiled coldly at Xaldin, then whacked him over the head with his fist. The man fainted instantly.

"Well, now we know what the person who made the virus thinks of us," Saïx said without humour. "Things to make _suffer_. How fun."

"It's hard enough to think without your sarcasm," Marluxia snapped, and Saïx raised an eyebrow.

"Fine."

Marluxia looked up at Saïx, who had made his face emotionless. A well known trick of his, so even if he was feeling hurt or worried, no one knew. Marluxia sighed.

"Sorry," he said. "I'm not feeling too great at the moment."

"Not feeling too great?"

"I've caught the virus from Zexion."

Saïx nodded slowly.

"That would explain a few things."

Marluxia had no idea what it would explain, but he knew that Saïx missed nothing. If even a tiny piece of information was slipped by accident, he would pick it up and remember it.

"How long do you have?" Saïx enquired.

"Less than a week," replied Marluxia. "But don't go replacing me already."

"Would I do that?"

Marluxia looked into Saïx's golden eyes, which were calm and sure. Very trustworthy.

"No, you wouldn't."

"Exactly."

Saïx turned back to the Dusks, which had kept their distance while the others had been talking. He held his claymore, which in a flash changed from normal to Berserk mode. Saïx leapt at the Dusks, smashing his weapon on the ground several times to create shockwaves. The Dusks vanished as soon as they came in contact with the blue and white flames, but more came to take their place.

Marluxia shook his head.

"Why have we relied so much on Dusks?" he asked quietly. "We continued to collect them, but now that we want them gone, it's such an impossible job to do."

Axel too was staring at the sheer number of the lower ranking Nobodies incredulously.

"I never knew there were so many Dusks," he said. "And to think that these were all people once…"

"Weak hearted people, you have to remember," Marluxia said. "These people as good as gave their hearts to the Heartless. Don't give any sympathy to them."

"I wasn't going to."  
"Good."

Axel thought about how Marluxia had changed so much from when he first became leader, and noticed that he was acting more like Xemnas. Losing the few emotions that Nobodies had was always a bad sign.

"What is it, Axel?"

The redhead realised that Marluxia was talking to him, and he shrugged his shoulders.

"Nothing."

"…"

Marluxia obviously didn't believe him, but didn't press the issue. Whatever Axel had been thinking about was not for him to insist on knowing. Summoning his scythe, he watched Saïx for a while until he had reverted back to normal, then he leaped into the battle. It was _very_ dangerous to start fighting with Saïx when he was in his Berserk mode, as he would probably treat you as an enemy and attack you by accident.

"You're fighting too?"

Marluxia made no answer; instead he swung his scythe and eliminated a group of Dusks.

"I guess so," he said, and Saïx nodded.

"No, Marluxia."

The leader turned around in surprise when Axel said that, only to find the redhead standing right beside him with his chakram in his hands.

"You have other things to do," he said. "Leave the fighting to us!"

Marluxia felt a little sorry to leave the battle, but Axel was right; he _did_ have more productive things to do. Dismissing his weapon, he opened a Portal and escaped through it before the Dusks noticed his absence from the battle.

Reappearing back in Vexen's cluttered study, he cringed as he saw that it had even more stray papers and test tubes covering the surfaces (and the floor). The owner of all the mess looked up when Marluxia entered the room, still holding a few bottles of something that looked very toxic. The leader got that idea by the fact that the solution was an acid green and was smoking.

"Uh, Vexen," he said slowly. "I hope the cure doesn't involve us drinking that, by any chance."

"Not really…"

"What do you mean, 'not really'?" Marluxia pressed further. "Let me guess; that is part of the cure, and it has a 19.45 chance of working?"

Vexen was astounded.

"How did you know?!" he asked, nearly speechless. Marluxia shrugged.

"I saw it written on that piece of paper," he said, pointing to the said paper. Vexen scowled.

"It will have a higher rate when I'm through with it," he said stoutly. "If it doesn't have a near 100 chance of working, then I'll take on the Berserkers by myself."

Marluxia chuckled quietly. The Berserkers were the most violent Nobodies, mostly because they were Saïx's Nobody. To take on even one by yourself would most likely end in catastrophe unless you had amazing powers. Unfortunately, Vexen didn't have those powers.

"So… any chance of you cleaning up this study for a chance?"

Vexen glared at Marluxia again, and retreated to his laboratory. Marluxia opened a Dark Portal and walked through it, reappearing in Xemnas' old study. He inhaled deeply; the clean air no longer polluted by chemicals was bliss for him. The papers he had knocked over earlier were scattered over the ground, and he sighed. Should probably pick them up.

Scooping up the documents in his hands, he laid them back down onto the desk. They were Xemnas' diary pieces, and it was not his place to look through them. But a certain paragraph caught his eye though, and he couldn't resist taking a closer look.

_The Dusks have been restless, trying to find something desperately. They are ignoring their duties, which is not what they should be doing. I've heard of a certain virus that will cure that, so I will try and find some tomorrow. When I do capture it, I shall change it a …little. Maybe so it will spread faster. Vexen has no part in this, so I will not ask him to help. He will just get in the way._

_And yet another Nobody has been acting not to my plan –Marluxia._

At this, the new leader narrowed his eyes, but continued reading on.

_He has been controlling the others, and he is not making them do what I had instructed. If something bad happens to this project of mine, I think it will be him who will be the first to test it. I hope it kills him. He is of my disposal, and dispose I will._

Marluxia threw the paper back down onto the table in disgust, breathing heavily. So that was how Xemnas thought about the way he ran things, eh? Well, the ex-leader's memory was about to be shattered.

Grabbing the note about him off the desk again, Marluxia ripped it up in a mad frenzy, giving the others the same treatment. Moving on from the papers, he yanked open all the desk drawers and threw their contents into the air. With his scythe he sliced Xemnas' possessions into halves, quarters, eighths.

Wood and metal alike was cleaved in half by the razor-sharp blade, and as the furniture was hacked at, the office seemed to fall apart. And with a final spin, scythe and owner destroyed the last remaining items that were still standing.

Chest heaving, Marluxia leaned onto the now-wrecked metal desk for support. Without meaning to, he had used his strongest Limit. The anger and fury had caused the attack to willingly come, and it had drained the man of his strength. But that wasn't the only side-effect.

"Wha…?"

Marluxia's eyes opened wide as his trusty scythe began to fade, finishing in an explosion of flowers. As the last of the petals landed softly on the cold ground, Marluxia collapsed onto the floor, the flowers breaking the shock of the hard ground. But as the Graceful Assassin fell into the mass of blooms, a sharp object was hiding within. He inhaled sharply as it pierced through his coat and into his chest, but was too weak to move off it. He resigned the battle to fight the fast-coming darkness in his mind, and as he coughed quietly, he muttered just one thing before he slipped into unconsciousness.

"How did this happen?"

A cloaked person staggered along the white floors of the castle, gripping their chest tightly as if they might fall apart if they loosened their grasp. They reached the foot of the stairs, looked up at the sheer number of steps for a few moments, but then started to stumble slowly up them.

Axel appeared in Xemnas' study, thinking that that must be the only place Marluxia would be. He had searched the rest of the castle, but had put off entering the study of the ex-leader because of the memories it still had in it.

Swinging open the door, he found that it only opened half-way. Frowning, he shoved harder at it. The sound of creaking wood came from behind the door as it slowly opened, and Axel looked up. He gasped as he saw the state of the office.

Every bookcase was mauled and broken, its content's pages littering the floor. The chair was upturned; three of its four legs ripped off or sliced in two. Even the ceiling wasn't left unscathed. Deep gouge marks lined the metal, shavings hanging in strips from the edges of the slices. And amongst the ruins lay Marluxia; face down in red rose blooms. No… they had been pink once.

Blood seeped through the flowers, slowly drenching them with the crimson liquid. Marluxia's blood.

Axel made his way quickly over to where number XI lay, and tried to roll him over. But he wouldn't turn, and the scarlet flow increased. The redhead tried another method, and lifted Marluxia out of his bed of flowers. His eyes opened wide as he saw the blood-covered fountain pen, and he felt a little nauseous. Picking the sharp pen out of the petals, he dropped it on the desk beside him and turned back to Marluxia.

The leader was unconscious, but even as Axel watched, he started to open his eyes. His dark blue eyes met Axel's green ones, and he spoke.

"Axel… why have you… come?"

"To find you, of course," number VII said, thinking that that would have been pretty obvious. "And I'm glad I did."

"My chest…" Marluxia said quietly. "It's bleeding, isn't it?"

Axel nodded, and Marluxia sighed.

"I'm going to die."

"No you're not!" Axel said, sounding sure of himself. "Nobodies can't die."

"You know what I mean."

"And we won't let you fade either."

"We?" Marluxia asked. "You and who else?"

"Me."

Both Axel and Marluxia turned their head to see who had spoken, and Axel raised an eyebrow when he saw who it was.

"Uh, not you," the redhead said. "I meant Saïx and Vexen."

The cloaked person was wearing his hood up, and was obviously one of the Organization, though neither of the Nobodies in the room knew who it was.

"No. You meant me as well."

And with that, the mystery person doubled over coughing. He waited until he could breathe again, then carried on.

"You know me, and I'm going to help find a cure for this virus."

Something clicked in Marluxia's mind, and he sat up a little.

"Is that you…Zexion?"

Flipping his hood off, the person revealed their identity. It was indeed Zexion, but a very different one to the one Marluxia had left a few days ago. His face was sunken, and his hair looked like straw; not at all like the original Zexion.

"I decided to take a walk," he said simply. "But I'm fine. You're not though… what happened to you?"

Marluxia felt warm liquid trickling down his side, and he looked down. Not surprisingly, it was blood. He looked back at Zexion and shrugged.

"I fell on a fountain pen," he said, using a hand to stop the flow. A sharp pain sliced through his chest as he touched the puncture hole, but he gritted his teeth and didn't make a sound. Zexion sounded like he was about to have another coughing fit, but gulped and seemed to swallow it down.

"It must have been quite a sharp fountain pen," he said, looking around the room to try and find the said pen. "It's made quite a mess of your ribcage."

Marluxia was confused at this remark, but as he looked down he saw what Zexion meant. Amongst the blood and flesh, the creamy colour of a few slim bones showed through. They were broken; snapped in half.

"Hey Marluxia," Axel said, holding the pen in his hand. "Look at this."

The fountain pen just looked like any other pen of its sort, but as Axel applied pressure to the nib and whipped his hand away a tiny bullet shot out, followed by about three more. Marluxia only had to think for a moment before he said what that meant.

"You mean those are still inside me?" he cried.

"Yup," replied Axel, and turned to Zexion. "Hey Zex, do you know why…"

He trailed off as he saw that Zexion had gone, but he turned his attention back to the leader.

"Now, how are we going to get these out?"

"Just pick them out, I guess," Marluxia said. "I don't mind."

"Yes you do," Axel said, folding his arms. "It's going to hurt like nothing you've ever experienced before if I do that."

"Okay, yeah," Marluxia said, resignation in his voice. "I'd prefer you not to do it, but it has to be done. I'll make the job easier for both you and me."

And with that, Marluxia grabbed the nearby broken chair and held it above his head, looked Axel in the eye for a moment, then smashed it down. He collapsed limply to the ground, knocked out. Axel cringed, not only at the force of the hit, but also at the job he would have to do.

Tightly gripping a flower stem, he pried apart the rips in the leather coat and examined the wound. It was very ugly, what with bones, blood and flesh obscuring everything, not to mention the rock-hard muscle that was insisting on staying right where it was. Making a face, Axel used a spark from his hand to slightly burn the muscle, tendering it up a bit. Then, using the hottest fire he could muster, made a long incision like that of a laser beam's.

Now that everything was clearer, he started poking around to find one of the four bullets than had undoubtedly lodged themselves in Marluxia's chest. He had to be careful, because a single mistake could mean death for the Nobody. It was but darkness that kept the blood moving around the body, and as Nobodies do not have hearts, Axel didn't have to worry about puncturing that. But he did have to worry about the lungs, because he didn't want the leader dying because he accidentally made a hole in one of them.

Discovering a steel body that had found a place behind one of Marluxia's ribs meant that Axel could show his surgical skills that he had leaned in his former life, and as he pried and tweaked at the bullet, he finally flicked it out onto the floor behind him.

Axel sighed.

Another three more to go.

Deep in concentration, Vexen tipped one of his substances into another, causing the mix to change to a dark blue colour. Scribbling down a few notes on a scrap of paper, he went back to adding tiny amounts of other liquids to the result. He was so engrossed, in fact, that he didn't even notice Saïx watching him over his shoulder. Until the blue-haired assassin decided to make a comment.

"I don't think that looks much like a cure," he said, talking right into Vexen's ear.

The scientist yelped and dropped his test tube, causing it to fall to the floor and shatter. Acrid smoke rose from the fast-disappearing mixture; thick, black smoke that swirled and faded until it was no more. Vexen whipped around and came face to face with Saïx, their noses almost touching. Golden eyes bored into emerald green ones, and the latter soon looked away.

"What are you doing?" Vexen spat, bending down to pick up the last of the mixture. He twitched and stood up again as the liquid burned his fingers, eating through his gloves like acid and starting on the flesh below. Quickly rinsing his hand under one of the many taps in the laboratory stopped the mixture's burning path, and the scientist turned back to Saïx.

"Didn't look like a success anyway," Saïx said, cutting in before Vexen could say a word. "I don't think Zexion or Marluxia would appreciate that acidic mix being pumped in their blood."

"Speaking of Marluxia," Vexen said, deciding to drop the subject of the cure for the time being. It was indeed a failure anyway, and Vexen didn't want the truth being rubbed in any further. "Have you seen him lately?"

Saïx shook his head. He didn't try to revive the previous subject; he wasn't the type of person who would want to dig other's failures in deeper.

"I'll find him," the scarred man said, turning his back to Vexen. "He should be in Xemnas' office."

The scientist shrugged. Saïx had a way of knowing these things, though for the sake of his life he didn't know how.

"Fine. You go find him."

"I didn't ask for your comment."

As Saïx disappeared in a mass of darkness, Vexen stuck his tongue out at him. He knew it was childish, but sometimes that man _really_ got on his nerves.


	4. Chapter 4

Appearing in the office of the late Xemnas proved such a shock to Saïx that he gasped, something which he had only ever done once before. That had been when he had sustained the scars that lined his face, and he painfully remembered that night. He would never forgive Xemnas for what he'd done…

It had been a day that only a few of the Nobodies had witnessed. The Organization had just filled its amount of XIII members when another illness outbreak like this one had come around, and almost the whole Organization had been affected. Only Saïx, Axel and Xemnas were left unaffected, and they could do nothing but wait and see how many Nobodies were still alive after the sickness had worn itself out.

But Xemnas would not let this be the case; he got Saïx to go to Vexen's study and take a medicine out that would reverse the effects of this illness, so he went as ordered. But the amount of sick Dusks, Snipers and Dragoons prevented his entry, and as he didn't want to risk contracting the disease, he was forced to turn back. Xemnas was not pleased to see him back without the cure, and sent him back again. Saïx, being the hard-trying Nobody that he was, returned to Vexen's office. He was then attacked, and when he finally stumbled back to Xemnas' study he was covered with slices and grazes.

Xemnas was furious that the blue-haired man had come back yet again without the medicine, and lost his temper. He inflicted two slashes so deeply that they would not vanish, and were left as the X shaped scar on the centre of his face.

The office then had been clean and tidy, everything in its proper place. It had only been two days according to the moon (Saïx watched Kingdom Hearts every night for hours on end, and though it was slight, he could see that it waxed and waned like a normal moon) that the leader had fallen, and already Xemnas' workplace had been wrecked. Everything, _everything_ had been broken. From the desk to the glass chandelier on the ceiling… it was all broken. And without a sign of life… or was there?

Saïx listened silently, his ears more sensitive than the other Nobodies by far. Their pointed ends had been the laughing stock for the whole time he had been in the Organization, but they did indeed work well.

He could hear breathing, and the heartbeat of one person. But no… there was breathing of _two_ people, so how could that be?

Walking to where the source of the inhaling was coming from, he carefully stepped over the wreckage and discovered two members of the Organization, both with their hoods up. One seemed unconscious, while the other was doing something to his chest. Saïx was curious, and used the same strategy that he had done with Vexen, watching over the awake one's shoulder.

The one on the floor had a gaping hole in their chest, while the other cautiously pried around inside, seemingly looking for something.

"Man, how am I going to find those last two?" the conscious one said, sitting back and folding his arms. Saïx immediately recognised the voice to be Axel's, and he could see a tuft of mauve hair poking out from the other one's hood. Marluxia.

"What's happened?" Saïx asked quietly, shocked at what injuries the current leader had sustained. Axel, like Vexen, got a huge fright and dropped his flower stalk. Once again, Saïx found himself face to face with the other person with only a few centimetres between themselves.

"You shouldn't do that!" Axel cried, clutching his chest. He was still breathing rapidly when he turned back to Marluxia, who was murmuring something. Axel cringed.

"Saïx… would you like to do the honours?" he asked, imitating whacking Marluxia over the head. "He can't be conscious while I do this."

Summoning his claymore, Saïx stood up and looked down on the injured man's head. Lifting his weapon, he let it fall, gravity causing the damage needed. The whispers stopped abruptly, and Marluxia went still.

The claymore vanished with a click of the fingers from Saïx, and Axel once again leaned over the limp body with his stalk, scrutinizing the inside of the hole.

"What are you looking for, anyway?"

"Two bullets that are currently evading me," Axel replied, leaning back again. He was just about ready to give up.

"Let me have a go."

Saïx leaned closely over Marluxia's body and held his hands out to the wound. Closing his eyes and muttering a few words, he suddenly began to glow an electric blue colour. Everything around him started to vibrate as if looking through humid air, and two silver objects shot out of Marluxia's chest and hurtled straight for Saïx's hands. But the blue-haired man swiftly scooped up the bullets while they were in mid-flight, dropping them down beside the other two that Axel had already found.

"Cure," he said quietly, and Marluxia glowed with a faint green aura. When it evaporated, skin had grown over the gaping hole, leaving it looking normal. There was still blood though, which Saïx left for someone else to clean up. Axel was astounded.

"How…?"

"Lunar power," Saïx replied, brushing himself down. "It's magnetic."

Axel nodded, thinking back to the books he had found when he had been sneaking around Saïx's room. He had read one of them, and though it hadn't mentioned that, it did say that lunar power had a habit of waking those in even the deepest sleep.

"Am I dead?"

Axel sighed in relief as he heard the familiar voice of Marluxia, and shook his head.

"Nope, sorry. You're not dead."

"So you cleaned out the bullets?!"

Saïx answered before Axel had a chance.

"Yes," he said. "Axel removed the first two, and I finished the job."

"Saïx," Marluxia said, raising himself onto one elbow. "How many other Organization members are there still alive?"

"All of them," Saix said, confused. "Why?"

"I think you might be wrong."

The scarred assassin blinked, but disappeared in a Dark Portal to see for himself. As he vanished, Axel turned back to Marluxia.

"How do you feel?" he asked, and Marluxia shrugged.

"Weak," he said. "It feels as if all the muscles in my chest have vanished."

"Uh, well…" Axel started, rubbing his neck slowly. "I kinda…um…'lasered' them."

"You WHAT?"

"It was the only way I could get past them!"

"Hmph."

Axel had no time to feel guilty, though. He was thinking about what Marluxia had said before; about the Organization being in danger. Or already past danger…what if they were dead?

Sure enough, Saïx didn't take long. His face was usually inscrutable, but now his face had turned porcelain and his golden eyes were filled with fear.

"What happened to them?" he asked weakly, leaning on the table for support. "They're all…"

"Just be thankful that we still have _some_ members of the Organization alive," Marluxia said, and Axel knew immediately that the rest of the group that he called family had been killed.

"It's only me, you, Axel and Vexen still alive," Saïx said. "I even found Zexion collapsed on the stairs. I checked for a pulse, but he had gone."

"The virus… it's getting worse, isn't it?"

Vexen, who had silently appeared behind Saïx, nodded in response to Axel's question.

"I don't think we will have a leader for much longer," he said. "Marluxia contracted the illness only a few days after it started to show up in Zexion, and he's already showing symptoms."

"So, after all this…"

"Yes."

Marluxia sighed, sitting down in Xemnas' old chair. He was motionless for a few moments, then slowly put his head in his hands.

To know that you only have a matter of days to live is a horrible thing, and Marluxia knew that what Vexen had said was indeed, true. Only a matter of days to turn the mess of an Organization around, or else there would be so such thing as Organization XIII.

"I won't just leave you all to try and fix things up by yourself," Marluxia said, standing up again. "Vexen, you get onto that cure. Axel and Saïx… try to work together to help Vexen, will you?"

Axel gave Saïx an uncertain look, which the other man returned with a shrug. They would try. Vexen, however, was looking very pleased with himself with having two new workers assigned to him.

"Oh, and by the way," Marluxia said, as if reading Vexen's mind. "Axel and Saïx will only be taking orders from me."

Vexen glared at the leader, disappearing in a Dark Portal. Saïx clicked his fingers and went through the darkness, Axel following close behind.

Marluxia looked again around the ruined study, and a pool of red liquid caught his eye. It was his blood. Walking slowly over to it, he dipped his gloved fingers into the crimson fluid, feeling the still-warm texture of the blood. When he took his hand away, the leather was covered with the life-fluid. Staring at it, Marluxia began to feel light-headed. Before he knew it, his past was flashing before his eyes.

A young boy sits on the floor, silently crying while his parents are taken away by Heartless… A mauve-haired teen carries his books into a building, only to be interrupted by other youths, punching him and throwing him to the floor, his books scattering everywhere… A young adult creeping into a laboratory, checking that no one is following him, his eyes widening when he sees the Neoshadow stalking him, and the Heartless strikes…

Marluxia's eyes opened abruptly, breathing heavily. Those memories… he had never seen them before. He didn't even know they still existed in the twisted state he lived in. All hopes of ever seeing them again had vanished years ago.

His life before a Nobody.


	5. Chapter 5

The next few hours went by slower than a Creeper, each of the four surviving Nobodies working hard to find a cure to the lethal virus. But no matter how hard they tried, nothing would work. And the whole time, one question was revolving around in their heads; who sent the illness that would soon destroy Organization XIII?

Vexen tried everything under the heart-shaped moon to use in his potions, but nothing worked. Meanwhile, Axel and Saïx searched the castle from orders from Marluxia, trying to find a single book that enclosed the information that could save their leader and the group of which they called family.

Marluxia paced the room of Xemnas', ever hunting for any writing in his diaries that would help Vexen. Anything.

But it was Saïx who made the first breakthrough.

He carefully searched the books in Larxene's bookcase, trying not to knock anything over that would break easily. One title caught his eye, and he took the book out. It seemed to have been used rather constantly and, to Saïx's disturbance, was splattered with blood. Opening it, he ran finger down the contents page. Nothing interesting there. But as he put it back, he hesitated. Maybe there was something.

Looking in it again, he found a chapter labelled 'the virus to kill those that are the hardest to kill'. Flipping through the pages until he found the place he wanted, he sat down on Larxene's chair and read it.

_Nobodies are among the hardest to kill, what with their having no hearts. There is no well-known illness that will defeat them, but the one that I have will do such a thing. The virus that attacks the darkness inside them, and will strike fast._

_I have corrupted a normal virus, modifying it to want to feast on only darkness, which is what the Nobodies use to survive. After that is done, implant it into a Dusk and wait for it to replicate. The Dusk will die after a few weeks, the viruses spreading through the air until it lands on one of the higher-ranking Nobodies. There it will slowly kill the Nobody from the inside out._

_But I have not created this without a reverser._

The Saïx's pulse began to race, and he read on.

_The blood from another, healthy Nobody will kill the virus. But this will only work if over three litres of blood is used, usually killing the donor Nobody. It is the only way, but has never been tried apart from on Dusks._

_Good luck Nobody-hunting!_

_Sarmixan_

Saïx thought for a while about the name, all thoughts of anything else disappearing completely. Sarmixan… another Nobody?

That was it! Saïx stood up suddenly, overturning the chair he had been sitting on.

Sarmixan used to be Number IX, but he left, declaring that the Organization was useless and could just ruin the worlds. He had hated his existence as a Nobody, and wanted to commit suicide. But no one would let him, so he had stormed out of Organization XIII.

So he had written the book.

"Damn you, Sarmixan!" Saïx yelled, slamming his fist down on the metal desk. He immediately regretted it, and inhaled sharply as the pain raced up his arm. But he was still angry. Furious, in fact. Someone else had found a copy of this book, and had let the virus loose in the Organization's castle.

"What's all the noise? I could hear it from Demyx's room, something about Sarmixan…?"

Axel had appeared, and Saïx's shoulders slumped.

"I think I've found our killer."

Axel slipped over and read the chapter that Saïx had found, his eyes widening with every word. At the end of it, he looked disgusted.

"Isn't he that psycho guy that went around telling everyone that the Organization was stupid?" Axel enquired, and Saïx nodded.

"That's him."

"What an idiot."

"Hm."

Axel opened a Dark Portal, and motioned for Saïx to follow.

"Coming?"

"Yes."

With that, Saïx tucked the book to his chest and followed Axel through the swirling darkness.

Marluxia looked up from the shreds of paper he was trying to read, noticing that Axel and Saïx were standing quietly in front of him.

"So?"

"We found this."

Saïx handed over the book, opened at the chapter of importance. Marluxia's eyes swept quickly over the writing, and wordlessly handed it back.

"Find Vexen," he said after a while. "Tell him to stop his research. Tell him to come to me."

Axel quickly warped to Vexen's study, and Saïx thought of no reason to follow him. A few minutes went by, and Axel reappeared with Vexen.

"We'll need someone to be a blood donor," Marluxia said, and Axel sniggered. It reminded him of the people who scattered the streets, asking for people to give blood. Marluxia gave him an icy look and continued.

"Saïx?"

The assassin closed his eyes, and stood silently for a few moments. When he replied, he didn't open them.

"If you want."

Saïx was soundless for another moment, then suddenly opened his eyes and leapt forward, grasping Marluxia by the arm. The leather both on his hand and on Marluxia's arm vanished, and Saïx grabbed the skin harder.

He muttered something of a different tongue, his eyes open in such a way that made him look mad.

Marluxia yelped as the skin on his arm fell away, leaving Saïx to touch bare muscle. A few minutes went by before Saïx released his death grip, and the skin healed over the wound on Marluxia's arm.

"That should do it."

Saïx looked exhausted, and Axel thought back to what the book had said. The donor Nobody could die…

"How much blood did you give?!" Axel cried.

"Enough."

Marluxia watched in awe as even the leather covering his arm was replaced, looking as though nothing had happened. Saïx was shaky, but still standing.

"How do you feel?"

"I feel… perfect."

Marluxia did indeed feel the way he had said. All traces of the virus had left his system… he could feel it.

"All the Dusks are dead," Axel said. "I checked with Luxord just before he…"

Axel trailed off, and it hit Marluxia with much force that the death-count was so high. Eight dead… how had this happened?

"Don't worry about them."

Both Axel and Marluxia looked over at Saïx incredulously, thinking he was mad.

"They have gone to a place better than this twisted existence," he said, explaining himself. "They will be happy."

All the Nobodies had to agree with this statement, and didn't feel so bad.

"And all this was started by that infernal Sarmixan…"

Marluxia lifted his head suddenly when he heard Saïx speak, and shook his head.

"No, it was Xemnas; it said in his diary all about the virus," he said.

"Xemnas probably read the book from Sarmixan, and got sick from the virus from unsafe handing of the disease," Saïx said. "That would be just like Xemnas."

"Well, at least we're alive, even if it is just us," Axel said, giving a brief grin. "We can rebuild this group, given time. No one will be able to replace those that have been lost, but that won't stop us from carrying on."

Marluxia nodded, and Saïx's mouth twitched, hinting of a smile.

The Organization had survived.

Organization XIII would survive for yet another day.


End file.
